Energy efficiency is an important aspect of wireless telecommunication systems. There are many solutions, and they are found in protocols, algorithms and hardware etc. Normally traffic load in the radio network vary; resource utilization is fluctuating between night (normally low) and day (normally high); in night time the spare capacity is running unutilized in the radio network. One approach is to halt partial radio resources during low traffic hours such as between 22.00 and 04.00.
However, legacy wireless telecommunication systems are not built specifically with energy efficiency in mind so solutions are often gross grained. For example it may only be possible to stop a complete cell from transmitting and receiving (discontinuous transmission). Using this approach may result in loss of coverage because capacity is lost since the cell is taken down. As a result it must first be verified that there is radio coverage in the area served also after stopping cell transmission.
Because energy efficiency is becoming more and more important and there is a demand for more energy efficient radio systems, there exist a need for a method and a system for providing more efficient management of energy in radio systems.